Just Friends
by almightyfeather
Summary: Victoire and Teddy broke up nearly a year ago. Now they are finally talking again, but neither of them can stand to remain as just friends. An ear piercing and a haircut bring them together.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: Much as I would love to be JK Rowling, I'm not, and these characters and the world they live in is her creation, not mine.

Every muscle in Victoire's body betrayed the thrill she felt at spending time with Teddy outside of school, and without any relatives. They were actually going to be alone, for the first time since the start of the Summer holidays. She was practically skipping as they walked away from the chaos of The Burrow, waving at Al and Hugo, who were climbing one of the apple trees in the orchard.

It was only when she reached the path into the village that she paused.

"Where are we going?" She asked, turning to Teddy, who was also bursting with excitement. His eyes, never the same colour twice, seemed to be acting like a disco ball: alternately flashing different shades.

"You know how I showed you that picture of the guy with all those earrings?" He asked her. Victoire did know. He had shown her the muggle photograph in one of his music magazines about a week ago. Lily, who had been sitting between them, had looked at the man in shock. Vic nodded, and so Teddy continued. "Well I thought I'd get my ear pierced. Only thing is, I tried to do tit myself, and got blood everywhere. Apparently it's harder than it looks," he admitted.

Suddenly Vic stopped dead.

"Please tell me you did not bring me out here so I could put a needle through your ear," she groaned. She'd hoped for something fun, maybe a little bit special. She had certainly not expected to spend her morning explaining to Teddy all the infections he could get from a dirty needle.

"Of course not!" Teddy looked shocked that she would come to that conclusion. "We're going to a place where they do it for you". Vic relaxed, and continued walking. But she was still confused.

"Why do you want me with you?" She asked him. To her surprise, the hairs at the nape of Teddy's neck turned from vivid blue to a shade of pale pink. This was, she knew, a sign of his embarrassment- he had spent hours in front of a mirror trying to prevent the whole of his hair turning pink in similar situations, and she had never had the heart to tell him it still sometimes changed at the back.

Teddy thought quickly. There were two reasons he had given himself for why this was a good idea. Firstly, much as he loved his youngest relatives, he hadn't been alone with Vic since they'd finished school, and they were meant to be friends again. Secondly, after his first attempt at body modification, he was not feeling particularly brave about the whole thing, and his theory was that if Vic was there, she might tease him enough to at least make him act brave. He didn't want Victoire to know either of those reasons. Then there was the fact that lately, Teddy had started to see Vic in a way that no friend would see her. He had begun to notice her eyes; her perfect curtain of silvery hair; the perfect symmetry of her lips...

He certainly couldn't tell her that one of the main reasons he had brought her out was to sneak glances at her while she wasn't looking.

"Well, I figured you were starting to get bored of hide and seek with Hugo and Al?" He said, hoping that was enough to please her. He should have known better.

"Why this though?" Vic pushed further.

"Well I thought you could get yours done too?" He looked hopefully at her face. He wasn't going to admit any of his other real reasons, but if nothing else, he hoped his joking would distract her from questioning his motives.

"Not a chance, doofus. But i'll come." Teddy grinned at her.

"We'll see," he teased. Actually, now he thought about it, Vic would look even more stunning with a couple of piercings. Maybe a few in each ear.

He had had to put the thought to one side in order to get them to the right place. He had been on the train to London before, but the muggle technology never ceased to confuse him. For the first time, he really wished he'd taken his apparition test a couple of months before, when he'd had the chance.

Eventually, they got on the right train and sat down facing each other. Teddy had to concentrate to avoid staring at Vic too much, so he talked as much as he could, far more than was normal for him with anyone else. Vic enjoyed it though, it was so long since the two of them had been able to talk together for this long without someone quoting that ridiculous article at them.

At first they all found Rita's article very funny. Embarrassing, but their families had been teasing them about the same things at every opportunity, so it really didn't seem to matter. When they returned to school, however, their classmates had made any attempt at a relationship painful, and they agreed that they would return to just being friends. Things between them had been very uncomfortable for a long time, but over the last few months it had got a lot easier. Now it felt like they were back to how they used to be.

"So where else do you want to go?" Teddy asked as they got closer to the station. "Any muggle shops?" If she was honest, Victoire didn't really know anything about muggle shops. She could usually walk in, choose some clothes, pay and leave without a problem, but she didn't really have any shops she liked. Or knew the name of. That didn't matter to Teddy, though. "We'll just wander around the muggle shops for a bit, then go to diagon alley for lunch." He decided.

They left the train at kings cross, and allowed the crowd to sweep them out into the street. Teddy led the way up a couple of streets, before turning a corner and speaking.

"The place we're looking for is on this road". He was beginning to sound uncertain. "Perhaps we should come on the way back?" Someone who didn't know him would have agreed to that, or understood that he was scared and not made him go. But Victoire knew him better than that. She knew that although he was scared, he'd never forgive himself if he didn't go through with this today. So she took hold of his wrist and practically dragged him down the street until they reached the door of the shop.

Inside the shop it was mostly dark, but with patches of neon colours. Teddy paused and looked around. Vic nudged him, but he didn't react. Sighing, she shoved him towards the desk, where a girl with bright red hair and thick black eyeliner stood, looking entertained by the spectacle Teddy was making of himself. Vic dug her elbow into his ribs, which would normally cause him to do the same back. It didnt, but it did at least make him speak.

"Uh, hi. I if I could get my ear pierced?" Teddy muttered.

"Sure. No problem." The girl turned towards a back room and called, "Rupert! You have a customer!" A moment or two later, a man in his early twenties came out of the back room and grinned at Victoire.

"Hi I'm Rupert. I can guess which one of you is hear for the piercing," he said, grinning at Teddy, who was turning pale. From where she was, Vic could see the pink starting to show at the back of Teddy's head. She crossed her fingers, hoping that Rupert wouldn't notice.

Rupert lead them to the back of the shop, which was better lit, and told Teddy to sit down in a spinning chair. He dragged over a second chair for Victoire, who sat by his side. "So, what's your names?" Rupert asked as he positioned a third chair near Teddy's head. Realising Teddy wasn't going to speak, Victoire responded for them both.

"So I'm going with normal ear lobe piercing, right?" Rupert said, looking at Teddy, who nodded. "Now, I'm going to mark the spot I think the earring should go, then you can check if it's where you like." Rupert took a small pen and made a dot on Teddy's ear. He then passed him a mirror. Teddy glanced in it and nodded, still mute. Victoire had never seen him this nervous.

"Now, I'm going to clean the area, and then we're going to put the earring through with this," Rupert held up an alien looking contraption so they could see it, oblivious to the fact that his customer wasn't paying attention. "It will hurt a bit, but your girlfriend can hold your hand and it'll be fine." Without even thinking, Victoire moved her chair up towards Teddy, and picked up his clammy hand. Teddy squeezed it, hard. Rupert motioned to her to get him to look at her, so she spoke to him.

"I can't believe what a wimp you're being about this," She told him. "After you tried to persuade me to get mine done too." Teddy turned towards her.

"Does that mean you'll do yours?" He asked her, smiling despite his obvious worry. Just looking at Vic's face was enough to distract him, but her teasing helped too. He did his best to totally ignore Rupert, and focused instead on her lips as she replied.

"Can you imagine what Mum would say?" She asked him. Teddy could imagine it well enough. He had heard Fleur Weasley angry all to often, especially at Vic. The mother and daughter were alike in many ways, which only meant their clashes were more dramatic. Their arguments were terrifying to watch, with a lot of shouting and arm waving. If she was really angry, Fleur would descend into rapid French, which no one could understand, but they all knew that it meant that she was very annoyed. Vic took his silence as a sign he understood, and continued. "There was something I thought we could do while we're here, something I've wanted to do for ages, but it'll make mum mad enough without me having holes in my ears as well".

As she spoke, Rupert squeezed the contraption in his hand around Teddy's ear. There was a small click, and Teddy squeezed Victoire's hand so tightly it hurt. Then he relaxed, and Rupert put down the piercer and handed Teddy a mirror.

"There you go kid," He said. "Just leave that where it is for a few weeks, then you can take it out. That'll be fifteen pounds." Then he turned to Victoire. "Sure you don't want yours doing to match?" He asked. Vic thought about it for a moment, but declined.

"Maybe some other time," she said. "Like when my mother's dead."

Rupert chuckled.

"No problem," he told them, and they left the shop.


	2. Chapter 2

As they walked back down the street, Vic mocked Teddy's fear, in return, he made fun of the fact she had been too scared to get her own ears pierced. They linked arms in order to better shove each other from one side to the other, laughing and enjoying their freedom. They walked past a bakery, and neither could resist the delicious scent wafting through the doors, so they bought some pastries and seated themselves on a wall facing an elegant fountain.

They sat in silence for a while, looking at each other. The quiet was not uncomfortable; they were simply communicating with their eyes. To anyone walking past, they looked like a happy muggle couple.

"So, Rupert called you my girlfriend," Teddy said, now avoiding looking at his friend's face. She blushed, grateful he was too busy staring at the ground to notice.

"Here's me thinking you were too scared to notice that" she said, while she thought about how she could make her response make sense. "I just figured it didn't matter what he thought," she told him. She didn't mention the fact that she liked that someone thought that they were together. That wasn't something he needed to know.

Teddy nodded, and managed to move his eyes back to hers.

"Is that okay?" She asked, scared she'd upset him.

"Course it is," he grinned, nudging her with his elbow. "Now tell me what it is you're going to do to annoy your mother. Because I need you to do something shocking to take the focus off my hooliganism." The word hooligan was Fleur's favourite way to describe the things the two of them did that she disagreed with. Ear piercing was definitely an act of hooliganism.

"Well, it's a long story," she warned him. He didn't make any move to stop her though, so she explained.

Over Christmas, her father had got out some old photo albums from when he and Fleur were young, and there was a photograph of Fleur, dated 1993. Her mother had long, straight, pale blonde hair like her daughter. She had the same dark blue eyes, straight nose and pale skin. Fleur was sixteen in the photograph, the same age as Victoire was now. The picture could have easily been either of them.

Vic had always known that her mother was beautiful. It should have been a compliment that everyone thought they were so alike, but she had been unable to think of it that way. She had decided the second she saw the photo that she wanted to cut her hair, and had asked her mother to do it for her. Whilst her mother was usually happy to help out with make up or clothes, and had trimmed her hair all her life, she flatly refused to cut Vic's hair how she wanted it. There had been many arm waving arguments, none of which resulted in a win for Vic.

Desperately, she had asked Ginny, who had been happy to help. Her Aunt was usually the best person to ask about things that were to do with upsetting her mother. She only got as far as being sat on a stool in Ginny and Harry's room with her hair combed out around her when Albus had run I screaming because James's owl, Edwin, had attacked him.

"So you want to go to a hairdressers," Teddy summarised when she had finished. He was torn: he had always loved Victoire's hair, but that was selfish. She should get to do what she wanted. It wasn't like he had any claim over her hair, or any part of her for that matter. He knew Fleur would be mad at them, but she was always mad at them for something. In the end, he decided that it was best to help her. It would make her happy, and that was all he ever wanted. The problem was that if she got her hair cut now, it would eat into their together time. They only had today; he was pretty sure that Fleur would ground Vic when they got home if she cut her hair, and that would be it until they returned to school.

Vic nodded.

"I thought maybe to about here?" she said, pointing to a spot on her shoulder. She looked at Teddy to gauge his opinion. This was something she was doing for herself, of course, but she also wanted to look good to him. His expression was one she couldn't read. He was silent for longer than she was comfortable with.

"That's great Vic," he finally said. "But, well, uh..." could he ask? He knew she was going to think he was crazy, but he decided he didn't care. "Would you let me do it?"

It wasn't exactly what Vic was expecting, and she didn't have a response. Was he serious? She looked at him, but his gaze was focused on the ground again. Suppose, then, he was serious. Why not let him? It would be a little odd, sure, but she knew he'd be careful and do a good job, probably better than Fleur, who would have been doing it angrily anyway.

"Um, sure, I guess. Why?" She asked.

Whilst she had been thinking, Teddy had come up with a great excuse.

"Payback." He replied, "For all those hours I spent being your dress up head when you were nine." Vic laughed. She remembered spending hours sat on her bed, with Teddy sat in front of her while she cut and styled his hair. He had always been very patient, and would usually leave it for a while in whatever strange style she had created before morphing back, to avoid hurting her feelings.

"Okay, you get your payback. Just remember I can't change mine back like you can" she pointed out with a smile.

"You can trust me, I promise" he replied seriously, his eyes meeting hers. In that moment, his eyes were the pale silvery yellow colours of her hair. Vic had to work very hard to prevent herself from kissing him. He broke the moment by adding, "But we'll get some growth potion from Diagon alley, in case you don't like it." That was typical Teddy; he was always thinking about how Victoire was feeling, sometimes more than she was. He could see the slight nervousness she felt no matter how well she thought she was hiding it.

As they were finishing the last crumbs of the pastries, they compiled a shopping list. Most of the things they wanted were in Diagon Alley, they only wanted to visit a couple of muggle shops. To speed things up, they decided to split up and meet back in the Leaky Cauldron. Teddy headed into a big pharmacy, and Victoire crossed the road to a tiny jewellers.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N okay, I couldn't wait to write and post this. There's no way I'm going to be able to continue with updating this often, but I see no reason not to update it while I can. I know this chapter is pretty short, but it's either two short ones or one long one. The next one will be up soon. Thank you to everyone who has read and/or reviewed so far, please keep reviewing!**

By the time they reached Madame Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions, they were already laden down with bags of owl nuts and new robes. "I'll wait here with the bags," Teddy offered. Vic didn't bother trying to persuade him otherwise. He always refused to enter this shop. If she was honest, Vic didn't blame him. She hated the place. She spent as little time inside as possible, leaving with just a single bottle of hair growth potion.

Whilst she was inside, Teddy had met George, who had just left work and was on his way back to The Burrow. George was the only person who knew how Teddy felt about Victoire, and, although he teased him about it constantly, was the only person he had ever asked for advice on girls. George had kept it simple. "Just go for it" was his favourite phrase to use when talking to him.

Before Vic had left the shop, Teddy explained to George their plan for the evening. George laughed at the oddness of the situation, but offered to keep children and adults downstairs out of the way for them. "As long as you don't use the opportunity to get her pregnant," Was his only request in return. Teddy mock punched him, but agreed, and thanked his uncle for the help.

George returned them both to The Burrow by side along apparition, which was far simpler and quicker than the train journey had been. Over dinner, Teddy's silver stud was approved by most of the family, although Fleur and Grandma Weasley tutted disapprovingly. After eating their way through second helpings, George suggested that the youngest children spent the night outside in the tree house, a suggestion that was met with overwhelming excitement. The house now emptied of children, the adults too sat outside, and George opened a bottle of firewhisky. Teddy recognised this as a cue to slip inside. Victoire followed.

Their rooms were next door to each other, in the newer part of the Burrow.

"Mine or yours?" Teddy asked Vic.

"Mine," she decided, pushing open the door. The space was small, but she only needed space for a bed, desk and cupboard. Although it was more tidy than the rest of the house, the room still felt lived in. She liked it as much as her room at home, despite the lack of sea view. It was decorated as if it was by the sea; the walls were a pale blue colour and she had several of her favourite seashells laid out on surfaces. There was also a model of the Ravenclaw eagle that Teddy had given her for Christmas the year she started Hogwarts.

Teddy reached into the plastic bag from the chemists. He pulled out a pair of scissors, a magazine and a small cardboard box, which he held up to show Victoire. On it was a muggle photograph of a girl with bright blue hair, with the words "semi permanent colour" written across the top.

"I thought this would be fun to try out," he told her, a little nervous at how she would react. She laughed and nodded, putting him at ease.

"Sometime, definitely. But not tonight. I'm going to give mum a heart attack just by cutting it" she reminded him.

"She is going to kill me when she finds out I did it" Teddy noted, sounding unconcerned by this fact. Nothing mattered to him whilst he and Vic were in a room alone together.

Vic pressed her lips together.

"You don't have to do this," she told him. Teddy shook his head, but didn't reply. Instead, he held up the magazine. It was full of photographs of different hairstyles.

"I thought this might make it easier. You know, you pick a picture, I try and copy it." Now Vic shook her head. She wanted him to like the one she chose, and the only way to know he wasn't just telling her he liked it was to have him choose his favourites first. She told him so, but he didn't look happy. "How about I read this while you go wash your hair?" He suggested by way of a comrpomise. "The instructions for the scissors say it's easiest when your hairs wet." She nodded and left the room.

After she left, Teddy grabbed her desk chair and placed it in the centre of the room. He looked at the packet of the scissors to see what else he would need. They recommended a comb and brush, and something to hold bits of hair out of the way. He knew that Vic would have all of those, but he didn't want to look in any drawers to find them. At that point, Teddy realised what he he'd got himself into. He began to panic slightly. How could he do this perfectly? Why did he want to do it in the first place? He'd never been to a hairdressers himself!

To calm himself down, he opened the magazine and began to read. He started off looking at the hairstyles labelled "long". Would he be able to persuade her to have a long style? If he was honest, probably not. The next part of the magazine was devoted to "mid" styles. These looked closer to the length she had mentioned earlier. He studied them closely until Vic returned to the room.

Her hair dripped down the back of her faded blue t shirt, and she pulled on her lip with her teeth. For a moment Teddy couldn't remember his thoughts. It was a few seconds before he remembered not to stare.

"Uh, we need a brush and a comb. And some of those clippy things" he told her. She opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out all three. She then reached up to brush her hair. Gently, he took the brush from her and guided her to a chair. "My job," he told her firmly, as he began to move the brush carefully through the wet strands. The rhythm of the strokes calmed them both; the room became silent except for their breathing and the brush.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N This was one of my favourite parts to write. I got kind of carried away, which is why this took a while to update. Enjoy, and please review if you do. Review if you don't enjoy too, so I know what to improve:)**

Once he had finished, Teddy picked up the magazine. "What sort of thing were you thinking?" He asked her. "All one length, or some bits shorter?" She turned to look at him, and responded in a small voice;

"I don't know." She looked more scared than Teddy had ever seen her, and he'd been with her while she waited to go into her first OWL. He crouched down so he was level with her head, like he did with his younger cousins sometimes.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," he told her. "You'll be beautiful either way."

"Thanks Teddy," she told him. "I'm fine. I want to do this. It's just hard to picture it, you know?" Teddy nodded, then opened the magazine.

"Let me help you try." He pointed to a picture on the first page, and gave her it to hold. "On you, that one would mean cutting here," he said, tracing a v shape on her back with his hand. "If you had it behind you, it would look the same from the front, but like the photo at the back. If you had it over your shoulders," he paused, flicking all of her hair in front of her. "It would be shorter here" (he tugged ever so slightly on the strands at the front) "Than here," (he tugged the strands at the back).

Vic smiled. She loved this Teddy, the boy who was sweet and gentle and was a Teddy who she saw playing with their younger cousins, who helped Rose with her muggle schoolwork or who cleaned up Al's scraped knees. She didn't see this Teddy at school, when he was usually surrounded by a big group of friends.

Still, she shook her head. "It wouldn't be different enough". Teddy understood, although he was disappointed that he wasn't going to be able to persuade her to leave her hair long. He knew it had been unlikely; Victoire rarely changed her mind. He decided to make one more attempt. Pointing to a second picture, he took the comb and pulled the front part of her hair in front of her eyes. Then he traced a line across her forehead, between her eyebrows and eyelids, his fingertips barely touching her skin.

"So with this one, I'd cut across here," he explained. "The rest could be left long, but you'd look totally different."

Vic had to admit that part of her liked that thought, but another part of her was determined to cut her hair shorter. Teddy could see she was considering the idea, but rather than pushing her, he flipped the magazine page and showed her a third picture, using the very tips of his fingers to move the hair out of her face. He'd had experience with trying to persuade Victoire to do things, and he knew that if she realised she was being persuaded, the chances were she'd do the opposite of what he wanted. "This is similar, but your hair would be to the side," he demonstrated, still gentle and careful. "It would be cut sort of around your face."

To his surprise, Vic nodded. "I like the fringe thing," she agreed. "The first one best". Teddy looked at her face. Her smile confirmed the words. Had his attempt at persuasion actually worked? "I still want it shorter though". Of course it hadn't.

"Is that definitely what you want?" He asked her.

"I think so," came the reply. Not very reassuring to Teddy. Vic could see that she wasn't making this easy for him, so she tried to decide what she knew for definite, and to go from there. She definitely wanted it all to be shorter, although she didn't know how short. This she told him, and he nodded.

"We'll do that first then" he announced decisively. "Here?" He asked, pointing to a spot between her elbow and shoulder. "It'll look shorter when it's dry". Vic knew this, but she still wanted it shorter. She took hold of his hand and moved it up towards her shoulder.

"There" she said firmly. "For now. We can cut more if it's not enough, right?" Slightly reluctantly, Teddy agreed. He moved his hands behind her, then pressed into her shoulder blades.

"That's how it would be at the back" he told her. Suddenly, he was aware that he could feel her underwear through her thin top. Mentally, he shook himself. Now was not the time to be distracted.

To bring his focus back to the task at hand, he picked up the towel Vic had brought with her and wrapped it around her shoulders like a cloak. Then he picked up the comb and scissors. "Are you absolutely sure about this?" He asked once again, as he pulled the comb through her hair. She nodded. "Good. Now no more nodding. Keep your head still," he scolded, grinning at her mischievously. If he hadn't just told her to stay still she would have hit him, but she had to content herself with an eye roll.

She closed her eyes before Teddy cut the first strand. She could see him in the mirror, could see the glint of the scissors as he combed. For a moment, her resolve left her, and she could no longer remember why she thought this was a good idea. She decided it was just watching that was putting her off, so she stopped looking.

Teddy noticed, and stopped what he was doing. She opened her eyes, but kept them focused on her knees. For a moment, Teddy was baffled. Then he spoke. "Vic, look at me". He said, lifting her chin with his first finger. "You don't have to do this. I'm not doing it if you're not certain you want me to. But I think it's a good idea. I know you'll look beautiful." He paused. "You always look beautiful."

Victoire smiled. Compliments from Teddy meant more than they did from anyone else. With his words her resolve flooded back.

"I want to do this," She told him, her chin jutting forwards. "But so I don't stop you again, can you move the mirror?" Wordless, Teddy turned the mirror to the wall. He then walked back to her and picked the scissors back up.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Ready," she replied.

He decided to start at the front, so he could see her face. His eyes locked with hers as he pulled the comb through. Seeing the absolute trust in her expression made him more confident. Carefully, he held the comb straight at the length she had indicated, and cut off the hair below. As he watched the long piece of hair float to the ground, a strange mixture of emotions overcame him. Part of him was terrified that he'd already cut too much. It seemed like an awful lot was on the floor. Another part of him was sad that Vic was changing her appearance and scared that he wouldn't like how she looked when he finished. A small part of him was enjoying himself. He found it satisfying to see the results of his work so instantly. He was also enjoying being so close to Vic without it being awkward. Ever since they broke up, they had barely touched, although before they first got together they had hugged regularly.

He continued to cut the long streaks of silver, careful to cut in a straight line all the way around. Slowly and silently, he snipped, long strands of hair falling to the ground below them. It was half an hour before either of them spoke. Teddy had cut every strand, and stood back to check it was even.

"Shoot," he muttered, a panicked look on his face. Seeing this worried Vic immensely. Did it look that bad?

"What's up?" She asked him, desperately trying to sound nonchalant. In reply, Teddy garbled; "I'm so sorry Vic, it's shorter on one side." Vic laughed in relief. She was touched by how worried Teddy was.

"It's fine Teddy," she told him. "Just try to even it up a bit. Mum never cut it straight first time." Teddy was baffled. How on earth did she not care?

"But that means I have to cut more on the first side," he pointed out; still anxious.

"How much different is it?" She asked calmly. Teddy held up his hand, his finger and thumb a short distance apart. "You've already cut off like ten inches and you're worried about another half?" She laughed. Teddy didn't relax.

"What if I cut too much on this side?"

"Seriously Teddy. Just cut it. You're doing fine."

They fell silent again for a few minutes before Teddy stepped away and pronounced himself done.

"Can I see?" Vic had asked softly. Teddy had agreed, and turned the mirror to face her, watching her jaw drop as she looked at her reflection. "Wow" she had said. She looked shocked, which scared Teddy.

"Good wow or bad wow?" He asked.

"Good" Vic had answered, letting him relax. He grinned at her reflection, and she grinned back.

They stayed still for a moment, grinning excitedly at one another.

"What next?" Teddy eventually asked.

"What do you think?" Victoire asked him. Teddy thought for a second, then replied

"Fringe"

"I think so too". Vic picked up the magazine, and flicked through until she found a page with a few models all with different fringes. Some nearly covered their eyes, others were above their eyebrows. Her favourite was a girl with auburn hair with a longer fringe cut so it was choppy rather than straight across. She pointed to it and looked at Teddy.

"That one?" He asked her. She shrugged, wanting to see which he liked. He pursed his lips. "I like that one and the one the same length but straight."

"I like those too," She replied. Teddy walked around to her face, bent down so he was level with it, and scrutinised. Victoire blushed under his gaze. He seemed to have his eyes fixed on hers for an endless amount of time. Finally, he stood up.

"I think the straight one would suit you more. If you don't like it we can always do it like the other one." His stare had taken away her decision making capabilities, but she was happy to go along with what he said.

He took the comb and separated the front part of her hair from the back, pinning it with clips. "You might want to close your eyes for this part." He suggested. Vic obeyed, but questioned him about why he wanted her to. "To start with, I don't want to get bits of hair in your eyes." He snipped the hair he hadn't clipped back roughly level with her nose, not being very careful about neatness. "Also, I just cut off loads at once, and I didn't want you freaking out on me" he said, standing away from her as he did so. As he expected, Vic's eyes flew open and looked in the mirror.

"Teddy!" She yelled angrily, standing up and moving towards him. He laughed and pushed her back to the seat.

"Sorry," he laughed. "Couldn't resist. You probably would have freaked out if you saw the amount of hair I cut off though." She scowled at him, which only made him grin more. She was even pretty when she was angry. "Come on, close your eyes and let me finish. You can trust me to make it look good, I promise". She stuck out her tongue, but closed her eyes.

"Actually, I need to dry it first, or I'm going to cut it too short." Teddy decided. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and tapped her on the shoulder, whilst muttering,"Siccesco." All of her hair was instantly dried. Teddy was distracted for a minute by the shimmer of the silvery locks. Even when her hair hid the front of her face, Victoire looked breathtaking.

When he had collected himself, he returned to Vic's face and crouched down so he was level with it. This was the part that he had to be careful with. As he pulled the hair straight with a comb and cut the first strand above her left eye, he smiled. The lock of hair fell into her lap and he brushed it off without thinking. Her eyes flickered, but she didn't open them fully.

It took him almost as long to cut the fringe as it took to do the rest, despite the fact there was very little to cut. Eventually, he stood back, checking that it was straight. "Okay, I'm done, but keep your eyes closed while I turn the mirror again. I don't want you to see it yet."

"You are such a drama queen" she told him, keeping her eyes closed.

"No insulting the guy with scissors." He threatened jokingly. "Now you can open them."

Teddy lost his concentration again when he saw her deep blue eyes look at him. He had to turn away while he regained control of his jaw. When he faced her again, she was looking at him expectantly.

"So?" She asked. Teddy studied her appraisingly. She looked fine, but there was something missing.

"Some of the bits round your face need to be shorter, I think" he told her. She nodded, willing to let him do whatever he thought was best. "Don't you want to see first?" He asked incredulously.

"Nope, I trust you. More than anyone."

"No pressure then," he said softly, as he pulled the comb through the front of her hair once more. He cut the hair either side of her face at an angle, so the shortest bit was level with her jaw and the longest part brushed her collarbone.

"There, done." He grinned. "Wanna see?" She nodded, and he turned the mirror to face her.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed so far, and please continue!**

Vic blinked. She barely recognised herself. The fringe framed her face, drawing attention to her eyes and somehow emphasising the freckles on her nose and cheeks that were the only part of her appearance she had got from her father. She loved it.

"It's perfect" she breathed. "Thank you so much" . She flung her arms around him and hugged tightly. It was a moment before she realised what she had done: They hadn't hugged each other since they had broken up. Victoire had just broken an unspoken rule between them. She froze, unsure of what to do.

Teddy had been shocked when Vic had wrapped her arms around him, but happy. He hugged her back, careful not to enjoy himself too much. This wasn't something he couldn't let himself get used to.

Shyly, She stepped away, avoiding his eyes. They stood in silence for a moment. Then Teddy realised there were tears glistening on her cheeks.

"Vic, what's wrong?" He asked urgently. That was enough to cause her to start crying uncontrollably.

He had no idea what he was meant to do. What had he done? He always hated to see her upset. Desperately, he moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She didn't push him away, so he hesitantly drew her body towards him and guided her towards the bed, where he sat down, gently pulling her with him. After a few minutes, the sobs subsided. "Hey," he said softly. "What was that all about?" Victoire mumbled a response, too broken up by shaky breaths to make any sense. "Okay. Deep breath. Now tell me," he ordered.

"I shouldn't have hugged you" She told him shakily. Teddy didn't understand. Did she have someone else, someone who would mind if she had been hugging someone else? He was pretty sure she didn't, he hoped she would have told him if she did.

"Don't be crazy. There was nothing wrong with you hugging me."

Victoire couldn't comprehend why he wasn't angry with her. They had taken so long to go back to being friends after everything had happened, and she'd ruined it. She did her best to explain to him, but he just shook his head. He had hated the way things had been so awkward after they had broken up. They hadn't even spoken for months, and when they eventually did, they had been so careful not to touch, for fear of making things uncomfortable.

"Sometimes, I think that was one of the most stupid things I've ever done." He muttered cryptically. Now Vic was really confused. She was silent, trying to puzzle out what he meant. Eventually, she decided the only solution was to ask.

"What do you mean?" She whispered, hardly daring to speak.

Teddy sighed. He shouldn't have said anything.

"I wish we had never broken up. I know why we did it, and it was right at the time, but now I miss you." He avoided her eyes as he spoke, scared to see her reaction to his words. It was only a few months until he left Hogwarts; he had planned on waiting until then before telling her, to avoid the jibes of their classmates if by some miracle she had felt the same way. But now he had told her. There was no going back. If she didn't want him, as he was sure would happen, it would be impossible for her to still be friends with him. He couldn't bear the thought of that.

Victoire's mind flew into top speed. Teddy missed her. He wished they hadn't broken up.

"I've missed you too." She whispered. Teddy's head snapped around to face her. He had not been expecting that response and had just come up with a "can we still be friends?" speech that was now useless. It took him a while to process her words and decide what to do. It was easier this time than the first time, when had no idea how she would react. This time he was pretty hopeful. Not that it wasn't still one of the most terrifying things he had ever done. Remembering George's advice, he took a deep breath and began.

"So will you be my girlfriend again?"

Vic was convinced this wasn't real, or that it was some kind of joke. Had George given him a love potion? But she could see the clear emerald of his eyes and knew he was serious. She couldn't put a sentence together in response, but settled for a whispered

"Yes."

Teddy picked up her hand and held it in his. Vic leaned her head on his shoulder. It was a long time before Teddy stood up and moved so he was facing her.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are absolutely stunning?" He asked her, using the gentle voice she loved. She smiled.

"Only you".

"Well you are"

Teddy moved closer and brushed his fingers lightly through the freshly cut ends of her fringe.

"Hold on, there's a bit here I missed before" he told her, reaching behind her for the scissors and comb. Vic sighed internally. There was the end of her romantic moment. But she obeyed him when he asked her to shut her eyes again. He ran the comb through her fringe, but put down the scissors. "There was another reason for getting you to close your eyes" he said conversationally.

"And what's that?" she asked him. He didn't reply, instead he moved closer to her, until her breath tickled his nose and she could feel the warmth radiating from his skin.

"This." he whispered against her lips in the instant before they brushed against his own.

Their lips only touched for the briefest time, then Teddy pulled back and opened his eyes. He wanted to bottle that moment and store it for eternity. Then came the realisation that he didn't have to. He could hold her close to him for the foreseeable future; he could repeat that moment where their mouths were one again and again.

Victoire had never before experienced a moment that changed everything. Her and Teddy had kissed before, and she had kissed other people too. But this kiss was different. It felt like the start of her life, like she was just seeing the world after spending the last sixteen years in the dark.

"Couldn't you have done that the first time you made me shut them?" Vic asked him teasingly. "Would have saved me an awful lot of tears". Teddy's lips stretched into a grin.

"I was hoping more for an "I love you too," but that'll do for now I suppose."

"You never said you loved me" She corrected, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Remind me to fix that sometime". As he spoke, Teddy wrapped his arms tightly around her, pressing his hands close into her back. Then they were kissing again.

Teddy felt like his organs had been consumed by a fire which started in his chest and spread slowly to reach his toes. Even his own body no longer existed. All that was left was his lips on hers. She moved her hands from the bed to his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer.

This time, Vic broke the kiss. She was dizzy from a lack of oxygen, so the room seemed to rotate around the two of them. It was a while before she had inhaled enough to stop the spinning. When it did stop, Teddy was still stood in front of her, a dopey smile spread across his face. The smile dropped from his lips when George tapped on the door.

"Vic, your mother wants to say goodnight. I said I'd send you both down."

"Two minutes" Vic called back, her voice sounding far more confident than Teddy felt. He looked at Vic in panic, which only increased when he realised how calm she she didn't think that this was going to be easy.

"Teddy, calm down." She told him firmly, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Mum won't blame you, and its already done anyway. She can't change that, and neither can you." They were words that Teddy needed to hear, and Victoire's logical thoughts helped calm his irrational ones. She was right, of course. Fleur couldn't do anything that would change what had happened in the last hour. She could make Vic miserable though, and that still bothered him.

"It's not me I care about" he reminded her. She sighed.

"She can't punish me forever. She'll get over it. Eventually. Everyone else will be on our side, so they'll help. It'll be fine." She leant towards him and pressed her lips to his cheek, then broke away, creating empty space between them. Now wasn't the best moment to tell their family that they were together. One step at a time.

Vic lead the way outside, where the family were seated around the long table. She stood behind her mother and called "Night everyone." For a moment she enjoyed the stunned looks on everybody's faces. Then she looked at her mother.

"Victoire Weasley. What 'ave you done to your hair?" Fleur asked, pushing the long strands of her own hair away from her face. Vic couldn't resist winding her up.

"Do you like it?" She asked innocently. Before Fleur could respond, Ginny spoke.

"It looks great Vic." Teddy saw her elbow Harry, who added,

"Very grown up." But even Ginny's best efforts only delayed Fleur's anger.

"Victoire. Inside. Now." She ordered.

Teddy moved to follow them inside, but Harry stopped him.

"Maybe you should go to your room." his godfather had suggested. "We'll make sure Vic is okay." Teddy made no reply, but headed to his room, slamming the doors loudly behind him. He flung himself on his rumpled bed and groaned. He felt so powerless. There was nothing he could do to make Fleur less angry at Vic.

A few minutes passed, then there was a knock on the door.

"Teddy, can I come in?" Ginny said softly. She took his lack of response as permission, and pushed open the door. Teddy had sat up on the bed, doing his best to hide his slightly red eyes behind his hair, which he had to grow slightly. Ginny recognised the long fringe as a sign of his sadness, but did not mention it. Instead, she sat next to him on the bed and quietly asked what was wrong.

"It's my fault" he told her. Ginny frowned.

"It's not your fault, Ted. It's Vic's hair and she cut it."

"Vic didn't cut it" Teddy muttered, without looking at Ginny. She looked at him, slowly putting together his muttered words and actions.

"You did it?" She finally asked. He agreed mutely. "Wow. Good job." she told him.

Teddy was confused. She didn't seem particularly bothered by what he had admitted, and he couldn't understand why.

"You're not mad?" He asked incredulously. Ginny looked at him fondly. Teddy had always been a child who hated being told off. Unlike Albus or James, who needed threats and punishments sometimes, Teddy could be silenced with a cross word. This hadn't changed, even now he was officially of age.

"I'm not mad," she clarified. "I don't need to be. Like I said, you did a good job; Vic looks great, even if it does make her look scarily grown up."

"Vic always looks great" Teddy pointed out, before realising what he was saying. Ginny tactfully ignored him.

"Vic won't be mad either. I heard her tell her mother very firmly that this was her decision earlier. She knew how Fleur would react, she chose to put up with that." Teddy again nodded, but he wasn't convinced.

"I'm pretty sure it won't be long before Fleur sends Vic to her room. Everyone will be asleep in half an hour." She told him with a wink as she got up to leave.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/n sorry for the slower update, I'm back at college this week and I had lots of things to go into this one. Enjoy**!

Not long later, Teddy heard Vic enter her bedroom, heard her close the door behind her. He waited half an hour, then crept out of his door and tapped on Victoire's. She let him in, and before she had closed the door he began to apologise.

Vic couldn't comprehend the guilt Teddy felt. She did not blame him, was angry at no one but her mother. This she did her best to tell him, but it was a while before Teddy was silent.

"You have nothing to apologise for. I got you into this, and I'm sorry " She said passionately. Teddy frowned, and made to speak, but Vic carried on talking. "Fine. We're both to blame. I wanted you to do it, and you did it." As she spoke, Vic walked to the bed, pulling Teddy's hand with her. She lay down on top of the deep blue sheets, leaving space for him next to her.

Teddy paused, unsure of whether to join her.

"Come on, lie with me" Vic ordered jokingly. If Harry or Bill knew they were in here, on her bed, alone, after dark, neither of them would be happy. In fact, they would probably put some sort of charm on him so an alarm would sound if he was within a metre of Victoire. But they were at the other side of the house, and it wasn't like they were doing anything. He slowly lay down next to her, leaving space between them.

"Thank you for today. For doing this for me." Vic told him, as she curled on her side. She was uncomfortably aware of the space between the two of them, scared to move closer in case he didn't want her to, scared to move back in case he thought she didn't want him there. Awkward as she felt, she loved being this close to him. She reached out a hand to the side of his face, where she gently touched the stud in his ear. "Does it hurt?" She asked curiously. Teddy shook his head, and rolled to face her, so the earring was underneath him.

"Only a little," he answered. He reached across to trace his fingers through her hair. "Does it bother you that your mum didn't like this?" He questioned. Vic laughed.

"If mum had liked it I'd be getting you to do something more drastic" Teddy was confused. He had Ginny and Nan, of course, and Harry; but if his parents were alive he couldn't imagine not trying to please them. Seeing his confusion, Vic elaborated. "Mum 0just wants me to be like her. She doesn't understand that we're different people. I figure if we look different she might get over it, but I knew she wouldn't like it at first."

"I like it." Teddy proclaimed. "I didn't want you to cut it, but I'm glad you did." At first he couldn't understand why Vic was shocked. Then he reconsidered what he had just said. Something he never planned to tell her. That was the problem with being this close to her. He blamed the Veela part of her, who occasionally made him forget what he was saying, despite his usual immunity built up through a lifetime of being exposed to her beauty.

"You didn't want me to cut it?" She asked incredulously. "But you did it yourself. I don't understand." Teddy did his best to explain.

"I loved your hair before. I wasn't sure I would love it after, but you wanted to do it, and I love you more than your hair." He garbled desperately. When Vic saw what he was saying and how much he meant it, she forgave him instantly for not telling her his honest opinion. However she decided that while he was being honest, she'd ask another question she'd been meaning to ask.

"Why did you want to do it?"

Teddy's hair turned to a vibrant pink, but he didn't bother trying to hide it from Vic. Now she knew how he felt about her, he was happy to tell her his reasoning.

"Well first of all, I knew it would take forever. I didn't want to spend our afternoon with some muggle woman who would hog your attention. Then there was the whole thing about me not really wanting you to cut it. I figured if I did it for you I could at least do a good job and make sure it was what you wanted." Teddy had more reasons, but he didn't get to say them before Vic pulled his head towards her and was kissing him. His hands wrapped around her lower back, pulling her body closer to his.

There was no longer any space between them. Their lips moved in perfect harmony; in different ways at different times, but still fitting perfectly together. This was a different sort of kiss to the ones they had shared before. They had both been very young the first time they had been together; Teddy was Vic's first boyfriend. Since then she had only dated two other boys, and neither of them had meant what Teddy meant to her. But now she was glad of the extra kissing experience she had gained since they had broken up. She had always felt like a child when kissing Teddy before: he had kissed so many other people.

Teddy too enjoyed the kiss more than any of his previous kisses. His fourth year had been spent mostly kissing random people. He had ended up in broom closets with many girls, and once, after Ravenclaw were celebrating winning the house and quidditch cups the same year, a seventh year boy. His fifth year was spent again kissing a variety of people: two Hufflepuff girls, a Slytherin boy, three Gryffindors and a large proportion of the upper school Ravenclaws. But since he had been with Vic, he had pushed people away. The only person he had wanted to push his lips against was Victoire.

It was some time before they paused to breathe. Still their limbs were wrapped around each other tightly, but now they were still, looking into each other's eyes.

"So when do we tell everyone about this?" Teddy asked. "Do we tell everyone?" Victoire thought carefully before she replied.

"I think they should know, but I don't want to tell them." Vic giggled. Partly because she was still a little short of oxygen, but also because she knew the impossibility of her desire.

Realistically, she knew that there was no way of keeping Teddy and her relationship a secret. Especially this summer, while the whole family was staying in the burrow. Getting time alone together would be hard enough without trying to pretend they were doing schoolwork together. Especially as they had both told everyone that their homework was finished in order to avoid nagging. But she really didn't want to have to endure the jokes and comments from her aunts and uncles. Not to forget her parents. Bill was usually fine with her boyfriends-he trusted her to make good decisions. Her mother would be another matter entirely. She had always been coolly polite at best to Teddy since he started Hogwarts, but after he and Vic had broken up Fleur had been rude. To the point where Victoire and Bill had felt it necessary to tell her mother to be nice while they were under the same roof this summer.

"Let's leave it a couple of days. We could just not hide it too much and let them figure it out?" Teddy suggested, ever willing to fulfil Vic's requests.

"That could work" Vic agreed. "So who'll figure out first?"

They speculated for a while. Teddy was convinced that George would notice first, but Vic argued that seen as he already knew how Teddy felt about Vic, he couldn't have him as a bet. Ron and Harry were deemed too unobservant, Molly and Arthur still thought they were the same age as James and The children were to young to notice anything different. In the end, they agreed on a galleon to Teddy if Ginny figured out, and one to Victoire if it was Hermione.

Eventually Teddy decided it was time to return to his own room, or else he was going to fall asleep on Vic's bed.

"Night Vic," he murmured as he kissed her forehead.

"Night Teddy" she whispered, her eyes closed already.

**A/N I would love to know what you think about the Teddy related revelations in this chapter. Especially his house, which I debated over for a while. I know it's unusual for him not to written as a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, but I felt like the creative side of Ravenclaw was fitting for this Teddy.**


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